differences in carding and combing romeldale fleece

This was going to be part of my last post, but it got way too long! If you hadn't seen it, I took this wonderful Romeldale fleece from Peeper Hollow Farm...


(actual photo of Hartley the sheep whose fleece is in the bag!)

...separated it into pieces and scoured it, intending to handcard the fleece for spinning into a heathery grey. I was hoping the handcards would leave me with a evenly colored, airy, squishy yarn to take advantage of the crimpy life in the fleece-- but I had a lot of problems with evenness and bumps. After a few rolags on the handcards I decided to comb a sample on the big combs, and unfortunately both cards and combs weren't quite right. I did find the difference between the preps interesting though and figured it's always fun to share :)


Rolag from handcards pulled into roving, left; sliver pulled off of combs, right

It's easy to see how clean the sliver is on the right with all of the waste fibers removed-- it's also easy to see the "jumbly" nature of handcarded fibers (along with shorter and longer bits and bumps) as well. I prefer a smoother fiber prep (using combs)-- but combs aren't always going to produce exactly what you want, either.



Notice how the sliver gets darker towards the center? The Romeldale staples were grey and white... apparently, the whiter fibers in the fleece were longer than the grey and pulled off the combs first. Even after I planked and relashed the straightening combing back on for additional combing, the fibers again pulled off white to dark.

I try not to buy variegated fleeces as it is hard to keep the colors consistent on the combs, but since the Romeldale staples were half white, half grey I didn't think I'd have that problem. Wrong ;)

So I ended up with a few rolag-to-rovings and a spectrum shaded sliver (five times fast!)... for fun I spun each on a spindle and navajo plied, just to keep the color gradation intact.



It's easy to see the difference-- the carded prep on the left is less smooth, has more bumps and neps where the combed prep on the right spun very evenly and at a finer weight (same spindle). Usually when spinning I would try and pull out large bumps in the fiber or try and even them out-- but kept them in the carded yarn both to show what was left in the fiber once prepped (vs combed) and also because I'm less able to stop and start when spindling :)

I honestly don't think one is better than the other-- I like how airy the carded prep spun and its rustic, evenly colored look, and I also like how smooth and effortless it was to spin the combed prep. It is just kind of fun to see the difference, same fiber in but two different swatches out.



I steamblocked these instead of wet finishing, I think the carded prep may look even more cohesive once wet blocked. Looking closely at the carded swatch, you can see towards the center where I changed rolags and one was browner/less grey than the other... small batch even blending can be difficult on both handcards and combs.

Best of all though is the light to dark transition the combed swatch takes, with the bulk a mix of white and grey.



Easier to see the difference with the edges folded together :)

I buy fleeces with the longrange intention of spinning for a sweater with them-- but not variegated sweaters. Sampling like this has given me a few insights: I need to practice more on the handcards because I don't know if it's me or the technique that is the problem when carding out a reasonably smooth rolag/roving from fleece. I also am now considering how to deal with spectrum colors in this Romeldale sliver-- I could separate the white from the grey when pulling off of the combs, leaving me with two distinct colors from one fleece. I could also try and handcard the slivers pulled off of the combs for an even color, maybe eliminating both the problem with waste/bumps and uneven color.

I actually love ending up with more things to think about :)

Til then, miss you.

carding on handcards and grafton fiber batts

[if you are a member of the Verb for Keeping Warm and/or the Grafton Fibers fiber club/s and don't want to see a February shipment spoiler, please skip this post!]

Yall who are obsessed with fiber prep like I am probably had the same reaction to the Yarn Harlot's post on loading fleece/fiber sideways onto a drumcarder-- namely, "dude, I need to try that!" Since I had sold my drumcarder I opted to try the method on my almost longlost pair of handcards instead... tools I don't usually use or reach for or admittedly even think about.

I started with the light brown cormo from Cormo Sheep and Wool Farm ("Henna")...



...trying to load the staples on the handcards in a sideways motion. Really though, I tried for a few passes and just gave up-- it is just not intuitive enough for me to drag a staple sideways across a handcard like it is to drag it longways. That's not the really interesting part-- instead of giving up the ghost and setting the carders aside, I continued handcarding a small mountain of flat cormo batts...



...that I rolled up and pulled into short roving lengths.



All said and done I had about 3.5 ounces of pulled rovings from rolags, which looked like a huge mountain even next to my relatively huge spindle I intended on spinning them on.


(the forrester dervish has an 11-12" shaft)

I had hoped to load more than the weight of the spindle onto it and managed just that (50+gm on a 45 gm spindle)...



I keep wanting to add more but get more nervous about dropping it as time wears on so I've stopped for now.

Yet again it's not the spindle spinning that's the more interesting thing to me (I'm on a bit of a spindle buying and spinning tear lately)-- but that I *really* enjoyed carding with the handcards! I had a few neps in the rovings, from a heavy hand before I found my rhythm, but all in all they stood up very well-- especially in comparison to how brutally I nepped another cormo fleece on my drumcarder. I think I enjoyed carding more on handcards than my drumcarder :)

As one good one always deserves another, I took this...


4 oz of naturally colored polwarth from aVfKW

...and this...


3 oz of tussah silk from February aVfKW Ultra club shipment

...carded them together on handcards for this...



...(closer)...



...and have used the handcarded polwarth/silk to spin a bulky single on the wheel and a very fine single on a spindle...


(terrible horrible no good very bad rainy weather lighting)
eta: much better lighting today :)

...that'll be eventually plied together into a bumpy textured but soft bulky yarn. I still have another bobbin at least to fill, but it'll take no time at all.

I really, REALLY enjoyed blending the fibers on my handcards-- using commercially prepared fibers (as opposed to raw fleece) seemed to help me in not nepping them, and it was just effortless! I love combing, don't get me wrong-- but I can't put my feet up and watch episodes of Firefly on hulu (new to me!) while wielding them like I did with the 'cards. Blending on combs isn't really a great proposition anyways (fibers generally need to be the same length on the combs or will pull off sooner/later than the others you're trying to blend with, making homogenity difficult)-- but I can't wait to try this again with more luxury fibers and utilitarian wools.

Speaking of utilitarian and carding-- my son and I went to the Oakland Museum of California a few weekends ago (second Sundays free admission!) and found this super great reproduction display in their "Art and History of Early California" collection...



Handcards made from thistle heads, and a big old (supported?) spindle.

I think its so cool, coming so far but still being very close to the techniques of a hundred years ago.

On the other, far end of the cool carding spectrum, I was gifted a membership to the Grafton Fibers "Colorways" club from my secret santa this year (!!!) and have been hoarding the stunningly beautiful color batts and petting them when I need a shot of color and love in my life.


January


February

I have no idea what I'll be making with these... part of me wants to spin each batt to the same weight and end up with 12 skeins to knit into an afghan, an amazingly colorful block afghan. The other part just wants to hoard them; I can't believe how soft and perfect the batts are and it makes me happy that colors like this exist in the world.

I read that Linda is still accepting memberships into the yearly club (she has a monthly one you can sign up for as well, both include a pattern and spinning tips with the fiber)-- the yearly enrollment includes bonuses like Grafton spindles and Darn Pretty Needles (my new favorite dpns!)



Made in the USA by hand, they are sharp and solid-- these are the 2.25mm (US 1) size and I am not afraid in the slightest for snapping or bending them. See?



Surviving being my walkaround knitting, stuffed in the bottom of a bag while I wait in line at the post office and chase after my little one, jumping in rainpuddles :)

Til then and thanks again Santa :)

verb batt roll hats

Not only was I glad to see the line at A Verb for Keeping Warm at Lambtown for what it means to its proprietress, but also because it have me time to think about what to do with that gorgeous, odd "silk batt roll" I was going to buy.


Batt roll by A Verb for Keeping Warm, 50/50 wool (merino?)-natural silk, 2 oz

They're pretty much like nothing I've seen before :) Outside the packaging...



I almost want to say they're like silk hankies, but like 10 trillion times better :)



They're thin, but not as thin as hankies. They also don't make me feel as tomboyish-- they don't catch on every rough patch on my fingers and nails when working with them. Since there is only half the silk, you don't get that resistance in breaking them apart-- I always feel the tearing in my hands when pulling apart hankies and it's totally a personal, textural thing but it creeps me out :) Also on a personal note, I'm just not as into 100% silk since I don't know what I'd do with the finished yarn since I've shied away from knitting lace.

Waiting in line I decided I would tear the batt rolls into strips and knit from them directly, without spinning. I'm guessing you could easily open them up and draft them out like a silk hankie too-- the size would be a bit unwieldy but I don't see why not... but instead I started from one corner and tore them in pieces, resulting in a long spiral strip.



You can get a good idea of what these are like in the pictures-- lots and lots of silk noil that's going to make a super textured finished object. I kept wondering what this would look like felted up, probably pretty neat.



I found it easiest to not pinch the strip I was tearing but to hold it with the side of my thumb. I could grasp more of it that way... it still has a tendency to tear apart super easy and I was really trying to end up with 3 whole, unbroken strips. It worked, even though it took so long I needed a flash to show the giant pile (complete w/ coke can for scale yall ;))



During the strip making, I just tore them off into widths large enough to not fall apart. Then when knitting, I drafted them down to a knittable size and went to town.


US 15 needles

Knitting them wasn't bad at all-- tearing the batt into strips and knitting this hat took a day. I started with a backward loop caston since I didn't want to really tug on the fiber (not super stable caston, worked fine in this app)... cast on 32 sts, joined and k4, p4 around to last 8 sts, k4, p3, slip last st onto LH needle and p2tog. You end up with 31 sts and then can [k4, p4] around-- the multiple of 8 -1 means the pattern shifts left, same idea as rpm but way cooler since you don't have to watch for the new round to shift over, it does it on its own. (Eyes free knitting!)

I chose 31 sts since it was the number of sts that would pretty much stretch uncomfortably around my 24" needle (didn't have a 16"), so it is larger than a hat should be (the problem with ALL the hats I knit!)




verb batt roll hat

I used all of the fiber up-- and where I wanted to knit in one long strip? I didn't... sometimes the strips broke when drafting down, and sometimes I wanted to switch up the colors since one batt was darker. I just joined and knit those ends in together when knitting...


inside out/wrong side with ends knit in together
i like this pic, you can see the streaks of silk

...the hat is so fat and bumpy even knitting 2 strands together to secure the ends can't really be seen from the RS.

All in all it was really a fun, fast odd project. The hat is super bulky and very warm, but isn't heavy feeling-- the texture is weirdly like a chenille! I can't explain why, but it has that resistant feel when squishing it.

It is too large (wide) for a hat, sits rather than fits-- next time I'd go for fewer CO sts. I really didn't want to frog it (I don't know how this would hold up to frogging, probably not well)... Actually a good thing since I know one batt roll ($15) should be enough for any sized head-- mine is 2x" so if this oversized version fits me now a hat with fewer sts CO it'll probably work across 99% of the population.

Kristine's sold out of these batt rolls now, but I know she'll have more soon. Next time I'll buy one and spin it and see what comes of it-- the texture and lightness of the fiber would make for a super light scarf or cowl.

I decided to try and make a hat that fits with the same shifting idea and to see if the backward loop CO was okay in a traditional yarn (yup). A week ago I took some black superwash merino (or, sw merino/seacell... long story) and some plucked tort angora from PunkJordane.etsy.com (gorgeous stuff!)...



...blended it together on my drumcarder. I went for a 75/25 blend, but was more successful in later batts in getting more angora in when I started with angora that I passed once over my handcards-- it helped the fiber not clump as much on the drum and meant I was getting much more on. The resultant yarns were not the same color...



...one lighter, one darker. No matter. I fulled the yarn to bring out the angora halo (so nice) and just switched balls every 4 rows (US 10.5 needles, CO 40 - 1 st, knit same shifting pattern as above).



And it FITS! Like a HAT!

Cause for celebration. :)

Til then, miss you.

carding cormo

I've been pawing the Cormo fleece I kept to process at home for days now-- I am just enamored of the process from raw wool to finished yarn, and the soft cormo makes it even more delightful.

You may remember I started with this fleece...


Hester, colored Cormo. 3.75" staple length, 3.75# (half fleece)

One of the fun things about this cormo (all cormo?) is the tendency to fall apart by locks really easily--





--overall, they just peel apart like fish flesh. Not all locks, but most and it's just way fun. Is it because it was coated? Dunno.

I am separating the locks and layering them between sheets of tuille like the Jacob before. I am putting more fleece in the bag though-- by eye, but I'm ending up with about 6-8 oz of clean dry locks when done per bag.



Before scouring, I had the idea (and told anyone who would listen at Retzlaff) that I was going to keep lock formation and try to spin the clean locks over the fold, picking random bits of color over the fleece for a variegated yarn. However... after all was said and done with about the 8 oz of cleaned wool, I had managed to mat the cut ends of the locks when washing.



Unlike the Corriedale I washed at the same time (a post for another day!), the cormo's butt ends stuck together once scoured-- not really felted since I could bodily pull them apart with my fingers, but doing so meant I couldn't keep the neat lock formation and spin from the fold like I had hoped.

I had read that Cormo was too fine to drum card, that the superfine staples popped and broke and nepped into an ugly mess. Well, since I'd already nearon felted the stuff, I went ahead and broke out the drumcarder, opened up the locks by hand (pita with the matted ends) and ran them thru SUPER SLOWLY.



And it worked! :)

Now, I did have some neps in the batts, but honestly I think it was from when I was pulling the butt ends apart with my fingers and leaving in short, broken fibers when carding. I pulled out my new Strauch flick carder (love), and brushed out the ends (and broken bits from pulling them out) instead for later runs-- I haven't carded those locks yet, but think this will help greatly.

The color of this fleece is crazy-- taking these batt pics, that day they looked more cinnamon white. Later spun up into singles for a worsted weight (again, later!) they look silver with hints of taupe. I had nearly forgotten the variation in color in this fleece, and need to add in darker bits when carding for a more homogeneous look... if I finish what I've hopefully started for a sweater's worth of yarn :)

PS! I am going to post this and ply the singles-- do you guys think I should full the yarn? It felts SO easily I'm a bit afraid, but love the feel of the Crosspatch Creations yarn I fulled before... and it is for a sweater.

Til then and thanks for today :)

Jacob fleece, raw to yarn

Lots of pics today :)

I was fortunate enough to "meet" Liese of Little Meadows Farm thru Ravelry-- she raises Jacob sheep (as well as Corriedales and Dorsets, and crosses), and from her farm I bought a freshly shorn Jacob fleece straight off the back of a wether named Jester.

Jacob sheep have black/brown and white coloring, a neat thing for me since I immediately thought I would separate the color from the white fleece straight away for a naturally-colored stranded knitting project... mittens from Selbuvotter, or something in that vein-- a fleece to finished object from one sheep.


raw dark brown black Jacob fiber


raw white Jacob fiber

The Jacob was so much less greasy than other raw wool I've had my hands on, and this fleece in particular was really clean and well skirted (the entirety was only 2 lbs raw)... so I tried scouring in a sink instead of the washing machine, using mesh bags. I tried a few different ways-- inspired by Spinning Spider Jenny's post on scouring to maintain lock formation I set out a basket and cut tuille and started layering locks between the tuille...





...tying the packaged wool together and placing them inside the mesh bags for scouring. I did a few variations of this, layering locks between tuille and not, and eventually moving away from using the basket and ties and just layering them inside the mesh bags. I found I didn't really need the tuille but it did help in giving the mesh bags some "shape"...


without tuille layers


with tuille layers

The shape helped the fleece from shifting around in the bags when I was scouring, as well as when removing the locks from the bags for laying out to dry.


variegated Jacob locks drying

I could just pull out the tuille and turn it over, leaving a layer of locks already spread out that just needed a little more time to dry. The tuille also didn't take much longer when loading the fleece straight into the bags... and I bought 5 yards of it, way too much but may as well use it, eh? :)

Even though I was able to separate much of the white from the colored fleece prior to scouring, I had lots of sections that were variegated and would blend into a pretty grey...


scoured variegated Jacob locks

I took a few ounces of white and black/brown/grey Jacob and set them to dye-- the best part?


variegated Jacob locks dyed w. acid dyes

...some of the brown tips on the black portions turned green in the dyebath :) This lot I carded the morning before the Color Fiber Festival and I spun in the downtime between my classes, plied up at home into this pretty skein.


2-ply handspun heavy worsted Jacob yarn

I probably should have chosen some more loud colors, this is really quite close to the natural brown/black of the Jacob :)


scoured black brown Jacob fiber

No worries, plenty left to play with dyeing later.

The resulting yarn is sturdy but soft, totally useable for a scarf against the back of my neck... though it feels like it would be a really great sweater yarn, squishy and full of life. (Yes Virginia, I am head over heels haunted by A Fine Fleece.) I spun the singles for this skein woolen-- but the final yarn isn't really fuzzy like yarns usually are for me when I spin merino or more short stapled wools. I don't have enough fiber for a sweater, and am already planning one out of *another* fleece I'm prepping at home, but I'd definitely think about this fiber for one if I ever grew up and into big projects like sweaters :)

Liese offers an "adopt a sheep" program thru her farm where you can "adopt" a sheep for a year and by the next shearing the fleece is reserved for you. I can say that the fleeces are really well skirted and fun to work with... so much that I adopted one of Little Meadow Farms' new lambs in my son's name for next year.


jacob/dorset lamb
(pic by Little Meadows Farm)

She was unnamed when we adopted her, and Liese asked if he'd like to give her a name... "Rosie!"

(I am such a sucker and immediately welled up.)

In addition to Jester's fleece, I also bought several bars of handmade soap from Liese-- the pine tar? REALLY WORKS for me. I get a heat rash on the top of my hand (nerves, since childhood) but washing my hands with the soap kills the itch and is so much more appealing than the steroid cream I usually resort to. I'm using it in the shower-- it has a definite smell, not bad but not flowers :) Clean, but way different than anything else. I really dig it, along with eveything (from wool to service) I received from Little Meadows Farm.

...back to carding! :) Til then!